f : + 



A 



65th Congress, 2d Session House Document No. 



805 



PROCEEDINGS 

IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ON THE OCCASION OF 

THE RETIREMENT OF 

Hon. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

AS CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON 
APPROPRIATIONS AND HIS RESIGNATION 
FROM THE HOUSE AFTER ALMOST NINE- 
TEEN YEARS CONTINUOUS SERVICE AS 
A REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW YORK 



DECEMBER 14 and 17, 1917 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1918 



65th Congress, 2d Session .--.,. House Document No. 805 

PROCEEDINGS 

IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ON THE OCCASION OF 

THE RETIREMENT OF 

Hon. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

AS CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON 
APPROPRIATIONS AND HIS RESIGNATION 
FROM THE HOUSE AFTER ALMOST NINE- 
TEEN YEARS CONTINUOUS SERVICE AS 
A REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW YORK 



DECEMBER 14 and 17, 1917 



V, -^, ^rrCv t»^^,,i J^ ,()cu,^i«|i'7>i«^)r, |*/*^e.. 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1918 






Januarys, 1918. — Ordered that the proceedings n the House 
of Representatives on the occasion of the last appearance of 
Hon. John J. Fitzgerald as Chairman of the Committee on 
Appropriations, be printed as a House Document, including 
remarks by Hon. Joseph G. Cannon, of Illinois. 



D. of D. 

FEB 26 J9I8 



[2] 



PROCEEDINGS 

IN THE 

HOUSE OF 
REPRESENTATIVES 



C31 



Proceedings in House of Representatives ^ Deceynher i^,igiy 

RETIREMENT OF 
HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

URGENT DEFICIENCY APPROPRIATION BILL 

MR. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I move that 
the House resolve itself into the Committee of 
the Whole House on the state of the Union for 
the consideration of the bill H. R. 7572, the urgent de- 
ficiency bill, and, pending that motion, I ask unanimous 
consent that the time for general debate be controlled by 
the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Gillett] and 
myself. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from New York 
[Mr. Fitzgerald] moves that the House resolve itself 
into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
the Union for the consideration of the bill H. R. 7572, 
and, pending that, he asks unanimous consent that the 
time for general debate be controlled one half by himself 
and the other half by the gentleman from Massachusetts 
[Mr. Gillett]. Is there objection.^ [After a pause.] 
The Chair hears none. The motion is on going into 
the Committee of the Whole. 

The question was taken, and the motion was agreed to. 

Accordingly the House resolved itself into the Committee 
of the Whole House on the state of the Union for the 
consideration of the bill H. R. 7572, the urgent deficiency 
appropriation bill, with Mr. Moon in the chair. 

[5] ' 



6 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

The Chairman. The House is in Committee of the 
Whole House on the state of the Union for the considera- 
tion of the bill H. R. 7572, the title of which the Clerk 
will report. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

A bill (H. R. 7572) making appropriations to supply deficiencies 
in appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1 91 8, and for 
other purposes. 

Mr. Fitzgerald. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous 
consent to dispense with the first reading of the bill. 

The Chairman. Is there objection.^ [After a pause.] 
The Chair hears none. 

Mr. GiLLETT. Mr. Chairman, I would ask the gentleman 
from New York if he will kindly yield to me now, as I 
should prefer to precede him if he is willing.^ 

Mr. Fitzgerald. I yield to the gentleman. 

Mr. Gillett. Mr. Chairman, this is the last bill which 
the gentleman from New York [Mr. Fitzgerald] will 
report to this House as chairman of the Committee on 
Appropriations, and I think it is proper that we should 
take notice in the House of the departure of so distin- 
guished a colleague. I send to the Clerk's desk and ask 
him to read the following letter. 

The Chairman. Without objection, the Clerk will read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Johns Hopkins Hospital, December ij, igiy. 
Hon. Frederick H. Gillett, 

House of Representatives, JVashington, D. C. 
My Dear Mr. Gillett: I wish very much that it were practicable 
for me to leave Johns Hopkins Hospital long enough to come over to 
the House and say a word about the loss to the country through the 
resignation of Mr. Fitzgerald. I regard Fitzgerald as one of the 
ablest men who has ever sat in Congress. 

[Applause.] 



PROCEEDINGS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES / 

Intelligence is the usual thing in Congress. Good nature is very 
common with the Members. The desire for economy is not unusual, 
but independent courage and determined bravery are at least not two 
common attributes of politicians or statesmen. Fitzgerald possesses all 
of the qualities that I have referred to. I shall regret greatly his leaving 
the House and am truly sorry that my temporary indisposition will not 
allow me to make a public statement to that effect in the House before 
he retires. 

Yours, very sincerely, 

James R. Mann. 
[Applause.] 

Mr. GiLLETT. Mr. Chairman, I am sure that all on this 
side of the House indorse very heartily these cordial senti- 
ments expressed by our leader, and we regret exceedingly 
the loss of our colleague from New York. He has attained 
such an eminence in this House that every man for some 
time will really miss him, and that is more than can be 
said of many Members. He has won his eminence not 
by any primrose path of dalliance. He has fought his 
way to his distinction. He has given and received blows 
from foes and friends alike without sparing himself or 
sparing others, always aiming at a definite goal, and any 
man with such fixity of purpose and with his ability 
behind it is sure to achieve success. I remember very 
well when he came here, and how our attention was soon 
attracted by the very young man who persisted in putting 
such searching and often embarrassing questions to 
members of the appropriating committees. He showed 
such knowledge of the subjects he discussed, such assur- 
ance of his parliamentary rights, and such determination 
to assert and defend them that before long he convinced 
the leaders that it was much better to have him inside the 
Committee on Appropriations defending ' than outside 
attacking. [Laughter and applause.] So he literally 
fought his way by his own sheer ability onto that important 
committee. I have served with him as chairman of sub- 



8 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

committees of which he was a member and as member of 
subcommittees of which he was chairman. We have 
often differed strenuously, but I have never had occasion 
even to suspect any unworthy motive on his part. [Ap- 
plause.] 

As chairman of the committee he has upheld the tra- 
ditional policy of that office. He always had an instinctive 
hostility, or at least antagonism, to the executive repre- 
sentatives who came before us for appropriations. He 
has felt that he was the guardian of the public purse, 
that anybody who wanted money from the committee 
must show cause, must prove by reliable evidence that 
he was entitled to the appropriation. That has always 
been characteristic, as far as my experience dates, of 
the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and I 
think it is his proper attitude as representing the privileges 
and duties of the House. I recall many instances of new 
officials coming before the committee with the apparent 
expeccation that they had only to state their needs in 
order to have them granted, and their discomfiture was 
ludicrous when they found out that their request counted 
for little or nothing, but that they must show the funda- 
mental reasons for their requests and that not upon their 
opinions, but upon the facts on which that opinion was 
based. 

Mr. Fitzgerald was peculiarly well equipped for the 
chairmanship by his strong, penetrating intellect, his 
unflagging pertinacious industry, and his remarkable 
power of grasping and retaining enormous details, and, 
as you know, in this House he made himself powerful 
and formidable by his pungent speech, his dauntless 
courage and his unquestioned sincerity, and his resource- 



PROCEEDINGS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 9 

ful ingenuity. The same qualities which have won his 
eminence here and in the committee insure prominence 
in the profession to which he is now returning, and I know 
that we all with full hearts wish him that ample success 
and happiness to which his talents and character entitle 
him. [Loud applause.] 

Mr. Sherley. Mr. Chairman, lo years ago I became a 
member of the Committee on Appropriations and it was 
my good fortune to be assigned to two subcommittees 
upon which were then my friend and colleague, the dis- 
tinguished gentleman from New York [Mr. Fitzgerald]. 

From that time to this we have been associated together 
not only in full committee but in the subcommittee work 
that comes as a result of the various divisions of the work 
of that committee. And therefore, perhaps more than 
almost any man in the House, it has been my good fortune 
to be in constant and intimate association with him. 
Certainly no man in the House is as conscious as I am of 
the loss that the House will suffer when he retires from it, 
because none have been in a position to so fully realize 
the work that he has done and the work that he is laying 
down. No exaggeration is possible of the great debt 
that the country owes to him. 

Popularity is gained in many ways in the House and in 
the country, but the esteem and respect of the House is 
only gained in one way, and that is by loyalty and devotion 
to duty and the industry and courage that justifies faith 
on the part of one's colleagues. And I know of no better 
thing that a man can carry away from this place of harsh 
conflicts, of extreme rivalries, of ambitions that conflict, 
a place which has sometimes been described as a "bear 
pit," than not simply the liking of your colleagues but the 

35483°— H. Doc. 805, 65-2 2 



10 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

respect and admiration of them. [Applause.] No man Vv^ho 
ever knew John Fitzgerald but what has always accorded 
to him all those attributes that go to make real states- 
manship. I have seen him under peculiar trials not only 
in committee but in party relationships. There have 
been times in his career when his viewpoint did not 
coincide with that of a majority of his party colleagues. 
Nothing is more difficult than differing with your party 
associates. Nothing so tests the fiber and the fine courage 
of men as that. I have seen him meet that test, knowing 
that in taking the position he did he was sacrificing some 
friendships and that he was doing the then unpopular 
thing. But I knew then, and his colleagues all know 
now, that whenever he took that position it was not v/ith the 
desire to differ but because of a compelling sense of duty 
and obligation. And he always justified from his view- 
point that position by the reasons that he advanced and 
the motives which prompted him in it. 

He is not only leaving behind him a reputation as a very 
great chairman of one of the most difficult committees in 
Congress, but he goes out of Congress with perhaps a 
more intimate knowledge of the Government of the United 
States and a more technical knowledge of the rules that 
control this body than any m.an now in public life. He is 
not only a parliamentarian who knows the rules but he 
is one of those more rare people who knows the reason for 
the rules. And in this day of misjudgment of rules, of 
criticism by the thoughtless, the unthinking, it is worth 
while to have in Congress a man who can justify the 
procedure here because of a knowledge of the reason for 
that procedure. 

And so we lose not only a man whom we all admire and 
many love but we lose one who has been to the country 



PROCEEDINGS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1 1 

of distinct service, who has justified and ennobled service 
in the Congress of the United States. [Loud applause.] 

Mr. Cannon. Mr. Chairman, perhaps I could most 
eloquently say what I desire to say, and then sit down, by 
indorsing the letter of Representative Mann and the 
remarks of the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Gil- 
lett] and of the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Sherley]. 
I most heartily indorse all that has been said, and better 
said, I presume, than I could say it, and yet I will add 
a little thereto. 

The Committee on Appropriations was formed 65 years 
ago. Prior to that time the Committee on Ways and 
Means not only reported the bills to raise the revenue 
but also reported the bills to put the money on the wheel — 
to appropriate the revenue. The first chairman of that 
committee was Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania. 
His service was for about three years. My recollection is 
that he died during his service as chairman in 1869. 
Many distinguished, many great men have served as 
chairmen of that committee. I have the names here. 
They are Thaddeus Stevens; Elihu B. Washburne, of 
Illinois, whose term was short; Henry L. Dawes, of 
Massachusetts; James A. Garfield, of Ohio; Samuel J. 
Randall, of Pennsylvania; J. D. C. Atkins, of Tennessee; 
Frank Hiscock, of New York; and then myself, of Illinois 
[applause]; William S. Holman, of Indiana; Joseph D. 
Sayers, of Texas [applause]; James A. Hemenway, of Indi- 
ana; James A. Tawney, of Minnesota; and John J. Fitz- 
gerald, of New York. [Applause.] 

Since the creation of that committee in 1865 up to the 
present time many things have happened. The population 
of the country has increased by threefold. The Union 



12 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

Pacific and the Central Pacific were the first railways 
across the desert, tunneHng the mountains to reach the 
Golden Gate; but since then they have been followed by 
I know not how many, but I think I can say from lo to 15 
transcontinental railroads have been constructed since 
that time. The population, as I have already said, 
has increased by threefold plus. 

There have been stormy periods in this House and the 
country since that time. Partisanship, earnest, at times 
ferocious, and necessarily so. This is a Government 
under the Constitution, the fixed law, by the will of the 
majority, as manifested at the ballot box from time to time. 
Some things have been done by the party of which I am a 
member and some by the party that the gentleman from 
New York [Mr. Fitzgerald] is a member in that time, but, 
so far as I am concerned, would have been left undone 
if I had had my way about it. And sometimes, perhaps, 
I would have preferred to dwell in a recollection a different 
result. 

I do not know how many men have served in the House of 
Representatives since I became a Member, but several 
thousand. My honored friend here, Gen. Sherw^ood, 
and I entered Congress together. [Applause.] 

I believe we two, with Mr. Hazelton, of Wisconsin, are 
the surviving Members. I am not speaking of myself, but 
these men who have been chairmen of this committee, 
whose names I have read, have nearly ail crossed over. 
Nearly all of them were giants intellectually, and they were 
partisans. I have no defense to make or excuse to make 
for partisans. Great Heavens! If we all belonged to one 
party and were wishy-washy; if we were cowardly and all 
belonged to one part}', God help the poor devil, you know, 



PROCEEDINGS EST HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 13 

if there happened to be one anywhere in the country, 
that disagreed with us. [Applause.] 

Some time, perhaps, before I die, I may have a little more 
time to speak of the rules of the House of Representatives, 
of the mistakes that we have made from time to time, and 
of the consequences of those mistakes. Something in the 
not distant future will have to be changed, whichever 
party may be in power, touching our procedure. With 
the bill pending, however, it is not the proper time and it 
is not expected of me to enter upon that matter. Of those 
great men that I have spoken of who have crossed over — 
and nearly all of them have crossed to the other side, 
although Mr. Tawney and Mr. Hemenway and Mr. Sayers 
are still living — there were men who had more notoriety 
than the gentleman from New York who is about to retire 
to private life. I have known them all since 1873, and 
have served with them all, from the practical as well 
as from the intellectual standpoint. While some of them 
have held great positions — Mr. Garfield became Presi- 
dent — and made great reputations, I want to say, and I 
say it without reservation, that the gentleman from New 
York who is about to retire as chairman of that committee 
has been equal in his service and in his ability to guard 
the Public Treasury, not ignorantly but wisely; he has been 
equal to any of them. [Applause.] 

Think of it! Since war was declared in April last the 
committee over which he has presided, and of which I am 
a member, has been alm.ost constantly in session through 
the day and frequently at night, and has recommended 
appropriations and authorized contracts for appropriations 
in round number aggregating ;^20,ooo,ooo,ooo. The hear- 
ings thereon, in tolerably fine print, stacked up, I presume 



14 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

would just about be covered by my two hands, held 2 feet 
apart; and I want to say that in my judgment there has 
been nothing appropriated or authorized to be met by 
contracts under future appropriations that did not meet 
his approval and that of his committee, including myself. 
By means of the investigations incident to the preparation 
of those bills I think I am within the bounds of truth 
when I say there were ^2,000,000,000 left unappropriated 
or unauthorized, without any harm to the public service. 

I exceedingly regret the departure of the gentleman from 
New York. I wish there were some way — there is none, 
however; but I have frequently wished it, and I wish it 
now more than I ever did — by which adequate compensa- 
tion could be made for him for the support and main- 
tenance of his wife and the care of his children pending 
his service in the House of Representatives. I met the 
children once when they were younger; the children were 
little bits of lads and lasses from 3 feet high down. 
[Laughter.] He leaves Congress, he tells us, in justice 
to his family. I wish it were possible that at least during 
this great emergency, during this great war to which we are 
committed — committed by the appropriation of treasure, 
committed by proper legislation, committed for service 
across the sea — that it had been possible for him to have 
remained as a Member of this House and as chairman of 
the Committee on Appropriations. [Prolonged applause.] 

Mr. KiTCHiN. Mr. Chairman, when I first saw the 
announcement that the gentleman from New York had 
decided to resign as a Member of the House, I said that 
the House and the country could better afford to lose any 
other Member than John J. Fitzgerald. [Applause.] 
In this crisis of our country the House and the Nation 



PROCEEDINGS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 15 

need his counsel, his wisdom, his judgment, his integrity, 
his courage. 

In all these virtues no man in this body is his superior. 
We have many able and wise and diligent Representatives 
here, men who faithfully represent and serve their con- 
stituents; but to how many of us could the term statesman 
properly apply.^ 

Fitzgerald comes as near measuring up from every 
view to the standard of statesmanship as any man in this 
Capitol. [Applause.] As a Member of the House he has 
given the country— ^^the entire country — 19 years of faith- 
ful, honorable, and effective service. His record stands to 
justify our high estimate of him. We know him. We 
associate with him daily. We esteem and admire him, 
and more, we love him. He has our respect and our con- 
fidence. As a man, we know Fitzgerald to be brave 
and loyal and truthful. He has never turned his back 
upon friend or foe. 

I sometimes fear that too many of our colleagues set up 
as the true measure of service here the amount of money 
which they can filch out of the Treasury into their districts 
and States for creeks or rivers or public buildings or the 
like. Fitzgerald's idea — and effort — has been to keep 
the money in the Treasury and not take it out except 
for the country's needs. I have known him to oppose 
appropriations that he knew would endanger his popularity 
at home. 

With respect to every question or measure he asked not 
"Will it pay.^ Will it help me?" but only "Is it right? 
Will it help my Government and the country.^" 

There have been many eminent men chairmen of the 
Committee on Appropriations in the last half century. 



16 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

Their names have been recalled in your presence by the 
distinguished ex-Speaker, Mr. Cannon. In my judgment, 
the three who loom out preeminently for their distinguished 
services as chairmen of that great committee are Holman, 
Cannon, and Fitzgerald. [Applause.] 

Mr. Chairman, I but reflect that w^hich is in the heart of 
the entire membership of the House in expressing profound 
regret that our beloved comrade in service here feels it 
his duty to separate from us, and in extending to him the 
best w^ishes for a long life and for an abundance of success 
and happiness. [Prolonged applause.] 

Mr. Madden. Mr. Chairman, w^hen I came to Congress 
my first assignment was to the Committee on Appropria- 
tions, and in my capacity as a member of that committee I 
had the privilege of serving on a subcommittee with the 
distinguished gentleman from New York. 

During that service I learned to realize his incorrupti- 
bility, his interest in the public welfare, his disinterested 
devotion to duty. During all of my service and intimate 
relationship with him in committee work I never knew him 
to cast a vote upon any question with any idea in mind 
as to how it would affect him politically. His interest was 
the public interest. His devotion to the public service is 
equal to that of any man I have ever known in public life. 
He has ability, which has been displayed upon the floor of 
this House on many occasions, courage beyond that of 
most men, singleness of purpose that no one can question. 
He has earned the right to the confidence of the American 
people. He has earned the gratitude of the Government, 
if there be such a thing as gratitude in the Government. 
He lives a clean life; his character has been above reproach; 
he stands among the great public servants in America 



PROCEEDINGS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1 7 

[applause], and I know of no title that can be conferred 
upon any American greater than that of a worthy public 
servant. [Applause.] 

It is unfortunate that the Government has not the power, 
or if it has the power, not the desire, to retain a man of his 
ability in public office. If he were employed by a private 
corporation and had performed the service for that corpora- 
tion which he has performed for the Government of the 
United States, he would not be permitted to leave the 
service, no matter at what price; they would retain him. 
You could not employ the services of a man like John 
Fitzgerald for 1^50,000 a year. The service he has 
rendered to the Government is above price. I regret to 
see him leave this body, for he has displayed an unselfish 
devotion to public duty and an ability that justifies not 
only the confidence of his associates but the gratitude 
of the American people. And now that he finds himself 
forced to leave public life in order that he may provide 
for his growing family when he shall have passed away he 
takes with him from this body the confidence, the respect, 
and the love and devotion of every Member of the House. 
I shall always remember my association with him as one 
of the pleasantest parts of my official life, and I wish 
him Godspeed in the business upon which he is about to 
enter and unbounded success wherever he may go and in 
whatever he may engage. [Applause.] 

Mr. Clark of Missouri. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I 
confess that this is a very painful occasion to me. I was not 
very much surprised when I heard that Mr. Fitzgerald 
was going to resign, but I was very much grieved. I do 
not know whether you have all observed it or not, but in 
the popular estimation the four great committees in this 



18 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

House are Ways and Means, Judiciary, Appropriations, 
and Foreign Affairs. Actually the Members of the House 
know that in addition to these two the Committee on 
Interstate and Foreign Commerce and the Post Office 
Committee are forcing themselves into that same class. 
These are the six committees that are always the greatest 
of our legislative committees. Occasionally some other 
committee becomes exceedingly prominent. It is a strange 
thing that during the seven years I have been Speaker of 
this House we have lost the chairman of the Committee on 
Ways and Means, the chairman of the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, the chairman of the Committee on the 
Judiciary, the chairman of the Committee on Interstate 
and Foreign Commerce, and now we are about to lose the 
chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. We have 
also lost the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, 
always an important committee, and during these troublous 
days one of the most important. 

Gen. James A. Garfield once said that there was no place 
on earth where a man could reach his proper level more 
quickly than in the House of Representatives. The posi- 
tion that Mr. Fitzgerald has occupied for several years, 
being recognized as one of the very strongest men in this 
House, is an illustration of Garfield's proposition. In my 
time here several men have become authorities in this 
House on some one subject. Mr. Fitzgerald enjoys 
the peculiar distinction of having become an authority on 
two very difficult subjects, one of them finance and the 
other parliamentary law. Men do not achieve places of 
this kind unless they have brains in their heads, courage 
in their hearts, and a great deal of industry. 

There is a fable extant in this land that if the executive 
departments did not hold Congress in check we would 



PROCEEDINGS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 19 

appropriate everything there is betwixt the two oceans. 
[Laughter.] Exactly the reverse of that is true. [Ap- 
plause.] The chairmen of the Appropriations Committee, 
the great ex-chairman and ex-Speaker [Mr. Cannon], 
and the gentleman from New York [Mr. Fitzgerald], 
and those who have come in betwixt and between as 
chairmen of the Appropriations Committee, have waged 
a constant warfare with the executive departments of this 
Government to hold the appropriations within bounds. 
[Applause.] Generally, they have held the appropriations 
below the estimates of the executive departments. The 
newspapers of the country could not do a better thing than 
to reverse the tale they have been telling, and tell the 
exact truth as to appropriations. [Applause.] A good 
many of you men have come in here in recent years. 
The heads of departments got so in the habit of exceeding 
the appropriations that Mr. Fitzgerald and the rest of 
the men on the Appropriations Committee, after warning 
them four or five times, finally put a clause into an appro- 
priation bill making it a criminal offense for them to exceed 
the appropriations. I do not know that that has been 
referred to in any of these newspapers' excoriations of 
Congress. I will refer to it if nobody else does, and I 
have as good a right to speak for this House as any man 
living. [Applause.] 

When Fitzgerald first came here he was the youngest 
man in the House, and by assiduous industry and close 
attention to business, I have seen him go up year by year. 
I like to see these Members go up. It is one of the strangest 
things in the world to sit up here in the Speaker's stand, 
where you can see everybody in the House, and see men 
going up and men going down — ebbing and flowing. 
It is not always a steady march in one direction. 



20 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

The resignation of Mr. Fitzgerald ought to be exploited 
all over this land as an illustration of one thing: Here he is, 
in the very prime of his splendid powers and flower of his 
years, going out of a body which he likes to serve in, one 
that he is especially adapted to serve in, giving up one of the 
greatest positions in the House, because he is so poor 
financially that he deems it his duty to his wife and children 
to give it up to make money enough for their proper uses, 
notwithstanding the fact that not only millions but billions 
of dollars have passed through his fingers during his 
service in this House, not one penny of which stuck to his 
palms. [Applause.] After a conspicuous career he de- 
parts from our midst poorer than when he came. 

I read a newspaper squib the other day — I do not know 
whether it was about Adamson or Fitzgerald; it was 
about one of them — which said that one Congressman had 
resigned, and that it was that much clear gain. Now, it 
is not clear gain for a seasoned Representative of approved 
ability to resign. It is a clear loss to the United States 
Government and to the American people. [Applause.] 
A man does not become a leading Congressman except by 
immense toil and great ability, and every Congressman 
who comes here, I do not care where he comes from or 
what he is, has to learn to be a Congressman, and the 
reputation that a man has outside of this House does 
him precious little good when he gets into this House. He 
must learn to be a Congressman just like a man learns 
to be a carpenter, a blacksmith, or anything of that sort. 
It is a great pity that the circumstances of the case force 
men like these chairmen I have named to quit their great 
offices and retire from public life when they have just 
learned how to be of most service. 



PROCEEDINGS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2 1 

It is very lucky for Mr. Fitzgerald that he was put on 
the Committee on Appropriations. I asked Gov. Dingley 
once about service on committees, and he said that the 
ideal service would be to serve a while on Appropriations 
and learn to master details, then serve on Ways and Means 
and learn the generalization of legislation. He was a 
success, and his words are worth quoting. 

These men who have been chairmen of the great Appro- 
priations Committee rank high in the estimation of mankind 
and in the history of the United States. They have 
rendered a great service. When I was first elected Speaker 
the newspapers said I was green as a gourd about parlia- 
mentary matters, and they did not overstate it. [Laughter.] 
I never had paid more attention to parliamentary law 
than any other man that had been as active in the House 
as I had, but you can not stay here i6 years without 
learning something about it. When I first came in I 
consulted priv^ately quite a number of parliamentarians in 
the House. I wanted to make a good record. Mr. Fitz- 
gerald was one of those I always consulted. I might 
have had some hesitation about taking the opinion of a 
crack parliamentarian when he was engaged in a hot 
controversy on the floor of the House, but I had no sort 
of hesitation in taking the opinion of a crack parliamen- 
tarian in private when I asked his opinion. 

I wish that Mr. Fitzgerald could stay here. [Ap- 
plause.] I not only admire his shining talents but I 
entertain deep personal aff'ection for him. Of course, 
we will get along, but to have an expert as he is in financial 
matters quit at such an exigency as this is in the affairs of 
this country is a pitiable comment on the rewards of 
politics. [Applause.] He had natural ability, but the 



22 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

thing that stood him in the best stead in this House was 
his persistent industry. He has achieved a great name, 
and the young Members — of course, they can not change 
the quantity of brains they have; some may have as 
much as he has and some may not have as much — but all of 
them can imitate Mr. Fitzgerald in the quahty of his 
industry. [Applause.] 

The sw^eetest of all American poets said: 

The heights by great men reached and kept 

Were not attained by sudden flight; 
But they, while their companions slept, 

Were toiling upward in the night. 

Those words fit the gentleman from New York 
[Mr. Fitzgerald] like a glove. [Applause.] 

Mr. GiLLETT. Mr. Chairman, I have used all the time in 
discussing the bill that I care to at present, and I wish the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Fitzgerald] would use 
some of his time. [Applause.] 

Mr. Fitzgerald. Mr. Chairman, no one could be other- 
wise than deeply affected by such a generous expression of 
sentiment toward my service in this House and its impend- 
ing termination. During a somewhat active career in 
this body many times some of my friends have been worried 
because of difficult situations in which I was involved, 
and they were somewhat perplexed as to how I should 
extricate myself. I honestly believe that this is the only 
time in my 19 years of service that I have been really 
embarrassed and found it difficult to express myself. 
[Laughter and applause.] Indeed, if those gentlemen who 
have so generously spoken, instead of heaping so many 
golden words of kindness upon me, had savagely assailed 
my career, I could with much m.ore enthusiasm, and 



PROCEEDINGS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 23 

unquestionably with much more effectiveness, have 
responded to their addresses. [Laughter and applause.] 

It is not an easy thing to leave the House of Representa- 
tives, and I go with considerable regret. If I consulted 
only my personal preferences, or if I alone were involved, 
I should not go. Neither would I go at this time if I 
did not know that the work that I shall drop will be carried 
on by men as well qualified and as eminently fit to dis- 
charge the duties of the position which I shall relinquish. 

I might have left Congress at the end of the last Congress 
if it had not been for a statement by a good friend that I 
could not come back. [Laughter.] I was somewhat 
influenced at this time in quitting now lest, perchance, 
some other unfortunate utterance might compel me to 
make the one who made it demonstrate his ability to retire 
me from Congress. [Laughter and applause.] 

But I love this body! I believe that it is the great bul- 
wark of our liberty, and upon its wise, intelligent, and 
courageous action depends the prosperity and the happi- 
ness of the American people. [Applause.] 

I had an early ambition to become a Member of it. 
Long before I left college I looked forward to the day when 
I might sit in it, and before I was graduated I had consid- 
erable familiarity with the rules of the House. During my 
service and for some years prior to it, I read every publica- 
tion to which I had access that treated of the history of the 
procedure and of the rules, not only of this body but of the 
Commons in England. I spent many nights in careful 
reading of what many consider the dry discussions had at 
different times when comprehensive changes in the rules of 
the House were proposed. Whoever knows the philos- 
ophy of the rules of this body and understands the under- 



24 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

lying principles responsible for many of the rules can have 
but very little patience w^ith outside agitation against this 
body for not making chaotic the transaction of public busi- 
ness by the adoption of many well-intended but ill-advised 
and impractical reforms. 

It is difficult for me to at all adequately express the 
sincere appreciation I have of the most generous expres- 
sions that have been uttered regarding my service. I 
know^ fully my ow^n limitations and failings. They have 
been ignored, and such manifestations of friendship 
chain me more firmly to those who are so loyal in their 
affections. Early in my career in Congress I read a 
speech that made a deep impression upon me. Mr. James 
G. Blaine, in his matchless eulogy upon James A. Gar- 
field, delivered in this House, I believe, on February 27, 
1884, said: 

There is no test of a man's ability in any department of public life 
more severe than service in the House of Representatives; there is no 
place where so little deference is paid to reputation previously acquired 
or to eminence won outside; there is no place where so little considera- 
tion is shown for the feelings or the failure of beginners. What a man 
gains in the House he gains by sheer force of his own character. If he 
loses and falls back he must expect no mercy and will receive no sym- 
pathy. It is a field in which the survival of the strongest is the recog- 
nized rule, and where no pretense can deceive and no glamour can mislead. 
The real man is discovered, his worth is impartially weighed, his rank is 
irreversibly decreed. 

I know this House is never deceivea in men. It is 
generous at all times, but ever in its. own estimation the 
place of Members is accurately fixed. I have tried in all 
my service, as far as it was possible for one to do — and I 
have the same human weaknesses that all other Members 
have — ^to do the thing that I believed was the best for 
the country regardless of its effect upon my own political 
fortunes. It has not been an easy road to travel. I made 



PROCEEDINGS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 25 

up my mind early in my service that, regardless of how 
long I served in this body, when I left it I would go away 
with one satisfaction, and that was that I would have the 
knowledge that every act and every spoken word by me as 
a Member of this body would be my own act and not the 
act of anyone else, and that for everything I did I would 
myself be personally responsible. [Applause.] 

Gentlemen, I could not if I tried express in words the 
appreciation which I feel for this demonstration. I have 
been overwhelmed with kindly expressions in the few days 
since I announced that I was to retire at the end of the 
present month. If it were possible for me to remain I 
should not leave. But it is one of those inevitable things 
which men can not control. As I have already said, I 
love this body, and the work, although arduous, has been 
congenial. When I am outside I can look back with great 
satisfaction to my service here. I am going from public 
life forever. I am free to speak about some matters that 
other Members may be reluctant to discuss. The most 
unfortunate thing about the public is the willingness to 
believe evil of Members of this body. It seems incom- 
prehensible that men who at home are loved and esteemed 
and highly honored, as soon as they are elected to Con- 
gress seem to be regarded in an entirely different light 
by their constituents. Their every act is regarded with 
suspicion. One of the more recent manifestations, of 
which perhaps I can speak when others will not, is the pre- 
posterous notion that the salary of a Member of Congress 
can in any way be construed as containing excess profits 
which should be subject to a special tax. [Laughter.] 

I had at one time hoped that if a certain reform here 
were effected, I might be here to participate in it. I have 
repeatedly urged that all of the appropriation bills be 



26 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

consolidated in one committee. When I had no thought 
of quitting this body I made the statement that I would 
wilHngly retire as head of the Committee on Appropria- 
tions and from the committee itself to bring about that 
reform. One of the objections is that it would give great 
power to a small group of Members. It undoubtedly 
would do so. But this House needs to concentrate power 
and responsibility if it is to maintain its unique and un- 
rivaled position in our system of government. We have 
emasculated the speakership. That office, which de- 
rives its name from the fact that its occupant was the chosen 
spokesman of the Commons to present to the King the 
grievances of the people and demanded their redress 
before the Commons would make grants required by the 
Crown, has been so stripped of its power in this body that 
the Speaker is not the important and influential factor he 
should be in our system of government. We so diffuse 
our power that we do not exercise the influence in the 
affairs of the Government that the House should exercise. 
I am glad that the President has made this recommendation. 
I believe it is the most important reform that this House can 
adopt if the continual encroachments of the Executive 
upon the power of the House and the rights of individual 
Members is to be checked. 

Mr. Chairman, I am a member of a commission to re- 
construct the Hall of the House of Representatives. I 
shall resign from that commission, for under the law I 
would continue a member of it even after I resigned from 
Congress. I intend to resign from it, because, in m}^ 
opinion, if that work is ever done it should be done under 
the control of Members of the House itself. At one time 
it looked as if the reconstruction might take place, and I 



PROCEEDINGS IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 27 

had studied carefully the plans in the hope to find an 
appropriate place where they would always impress not 
only the Members of this body, but those who visit this 
Chamber, the words of a very distinguished British states- 
man, Edmund Burke, which accurately picture the rela- 
tionship and duty of a representative. In a speech to his 
constituents at Bristol on November 4, 1774, he said: 

It should be the glory, as well as the honor, of a representative to 
live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, the most unre- 
served communication with his constituents. Their wishes should at 
all times have great weight v.'ith him, their opinions high respect, their 
business unremitted attention. But his mature opinion, his unbiased 
judgment, his enlightened conscience he should not surrender to you, 
nor to any man, nor to any set of men living. These he does not derive 
from you, nor from the law, nor from the constitution. They are a 
gift from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply responsible. 
Your representative owes you not only his industry, but his judgment, 
and he is betraying instead of serving you when he sacrifices that judg- 
ment to the opinions of another. 

Mr. Chairman, it seems to me that Edmund Burke in 
those immortal words has pictured for members of a rep- 
resentative body the true measure of their conduct. It 
requires courage to exercise judgment, it requires courage 
not to subordinate judgment to the opinions of others. 
Yet the whole course of this Government and the safety 
and the happiness and the prosperity of the people of the 
United States depend not only upon the intelligence of 
Members of Congress, but, much more, upon the courage 
with which they exercise their own unbiased judgment. 
[Applause.] 

I wish to say that in going from this body I go with the 
highest opinion of its Members, of their integrity, of their 
industry, and of their patriotism. During my service 
here I have been in many, many bitter controversies. I 
have hit hard and I have taken hard blows in return, but 



28 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

I never carried from the floor of the House any feeling of 
antagonism whatever toward the Members with whom I 
had been engaged in controversy. I discharged on the 
floor of this House my duties as a Member of the House 
according to my best lights, and when I left this Chamber 
I left here all acrimony, partisanship, and bitterness. I 
rejoice in the fact that in leaving this body I go, as 
I believe, with the same friendship and good will which I 
entertain for every individual Member of it. [Applause.] 
I shall carry away and cherish the many, many pleasant 
associations of my service, and they shall not be crowded 
out by other occupations. I have served the best part 
of my life in this body. Its Members have uniformly 
been kind and more patient than I had reason to expect. 
They have been tolerant when my views differed from 
the majority: they have frequently given me loyal and 
unstinted support in many diflScult controversies, i wish 
to express my thanks and appreciation for the innumerable 
expressions of esteem and friendship and for the unques- 
tioned loyalty and assistance that have been so liberally 
accorded to me by Members here regardless of party, 
and I assure the House that this day will be recalled with 
reverent afi^ection till the end of my life. [Loud ap- 
plause.] 



Proceedings in House of Representatives, December ly, igiy 



NOTICE OF RESIGNATION 

The Speaker laid before the House the following notice 
of resignation: 

To the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Sir: I have to-day transmitted to the governor of the State of New 
York my resignation as a Representative in the Congress of the United 
States from the seventh district of Nev? York, to take effect December 

Respectfully, yours, John J. Fitzgerald. 

Mr. Cannon. Mr. Speaker, on Queen Victoria's fiftieth 

birthday Tennyson, the poet laureate, said: 

Saxon or Dane or Norman vpe, 

Teuton or Celt, or whatever be. 

We are each all Dane in our welcome of thee. 

I am charged, as the agent of the House of Representa- 
tives, to state that within the last hour the Members have 
expressed a unanimous desire upon their part to extend a 
memorial to our departing friend in public life, the Hon. 
John J. Fitzgerald, a memento for him to take with him 
of our love and respect, to the amount, when selected, of 
a thousand dollars. [Applause.] I can suggest to him 

that — 

Democrats, Republicans, Progressives are we. 
But we all unite in our love for thee. 

We love him as a man and as a legislator. [Applause.] 

One thing further. The leader of the minority, who 
has the respect of every man in this House, is sick at 

[29] 



30 RETIREMENT OF HON. JOHN J. FITZGERALD 

Johns Hopkins Hospital, and we have also concluded 
to send to him on Christmas morning a floral tribute of 
our love and respect for him. [Applause.] 

Mr. Webb. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
New York [Mr. Fitzgerald], 

Mr. Fitzgerald. Mr. Speaker, I do not desire the 
Record to indicate that I had not expressed my over- 
whelming gratitude for this addition to the innumerable 
favors I have received from my colleagues in the House. 
I wish to express to them my sincere thanks for this added 
manifestation of their kindness. [Applause.] 




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